SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick (32GB)

amazon SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick (32GB) reviews

The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick USB Hard Drive provides a simple and affordable way to transfer or stream files to and from your phone or computer.

The SanDisk Connect 32GB Wireless Stick ($39.99 as tested) is a USB with built-in Wi-Fi capabilities that serves as an affordable way to wirelessly transfer and play large files to and from mobile devices. While its transfer speeds are nothing short of amazing and offer only moderate storage at this price point, the drive has an easy-to-use mobile app that lets you move and access files from multiple remote devices. Moreover, it has enough battery life to keep you going all day. If you’re looking for a wired-only flash drive that’s simpler, faster, and a little better value, Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 (64GB) is the way to go. If wireless functionality is an appealing feature to you, the Connect Wireless Stick is a great, simple, and affordable option.

Design and features

The Connect Wireless Stick is an all-plastic, black USB flash drive that measures 3.08 x 0.82 x 0.48 inches (HWD) and weighs 0.8 ounces. The overall design looks sharp, and the textured geometric pattern on the front panel gives it a modern look. There’s a single LED in the center of the front panel that lets you know — using color and style — whether the drive is on, wirelessly transferring, charging, low on battery, or updating firmware. The Power button is a small, thin bar located on the right edge of the device. The drive comes with a clear cover, which cannot be stored anywhere on the stick when plugged into the computer, although it can be kept on the device if you are connecting remotely.

The main appeal of the USB flash drive is its wireless connectivity, allowing you to access, stream, and transfer your files over 802.11n Wi-Fi using up to three mobile devices at the same time. You can also connect it wirelessly to your computer, but plugging it into your computer’s USB port is still an easier method. Otherwise, you need to connect to the internal wireless network of your computer’s flash drive and access a special Web address in your browser, which is a bit more tedious (and slower) compared to plugging in the drive.

Using the Connect Wireless Stick with your phone is where the drive shines. That requires you to download the SanDisk Connect Drive app, which takes a few minutes to set up, but the process is straightforward. Once the app is ready, you can connect to the drive on your phone as you would any Wi-Fi network. If, for some reason, you can’t (or don’t want to) download an app, you can still connect it to your phone or tablet using the same browser method you would connect to Wi-Fi on the computer.

Once it’s connected, you can move files in or out of the drive and stream content from it without delay. As with the SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive software, the app’s strengths are its ease of use and a bit more flexibility than expected. It shows how much space is left on the drive and what removable devices are connected, with an attractive image. It’s also neatly organized, making it simple to navigate files and folders.

You can set up a drive to back up your phone’s photo library using an in-app menu option to save new photos every time the device connects automatically. Wireless connections can reach up to 150 feet of a direct line of sight, but the range is slightly shorter if the signal has to go through walls or ceilings. The drive stayed connected to my phone from several rooms away during testing, and I could still move files and stream music quickly.

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SanDisk 32GB Connect Wireless Stick Flash Drive – SDWS4-032G-G46: Buy it now

Sandisk Connect 32GB Stick USB Flash Memory Card (SDWS4-032G-A46): Buy it now

Price and Performance

The review unit I tested has 32GB of storage, which costs $1.25 per gigabyte. There are also 16GB ($24.99), 64GB ($59.99) and 128GB ($99.99) versions. As usual with storage, it’s cheaper per gigabyte if you’re buying in bulk — you’ll pay $1.56 per gigabyte for the 16GB model, $0.93 per gigabyte for the 64GB, and $0.78 per gigabyte for 128GB. The 32GB Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 (we reviewed the 64GB version) is a slightly better value than the Connect Wireless Stick at $0.81 per gigabyte. The Lexar JumpDrive M20 Mobile has pricing close to SanDisk, with its 32GB model coming in at $1.15 per gigabyte. If you need more space, go for a wireless media hard drive like the LaCie Fuel Editors’ Choice, which lets you share 1TB of your files, but it’s much larger and more expensive than the End Bar wireless connection. The SanDisk’s battery life is rated for 4 hours and 30 minutes of continuous video playback, and it takes about two hours to fully charge, which happens whenever you plug it into a USB port on your computer. How long it lasts will vary significantly depending on what you’re using it for — streaming video will drain the battery much faster than just keeping the connection down for occasional file transfers. In testing, it lasted as long as the manufacturer claimed when I streamed the video; when I connect it and move files or view pictures from time to time, this drive lasts through the day. As long as you plug it in to charge after heavy or moderate use during a workday, battery life shouldn’t be an issue.

The Connect Wireless Stick doesn’t particularly stand out in file transfer speeds, especially since it’s limited to the USB 2.0 interface. Writes of 9.84MBps and reads of 15.8MBps in our drag-and-drop file transfer tests were slow. Lexar JumpDrive M20 Mobile has read and writes speeds of 32MBps and 11MBps on USB 2.0, respectively, and almost triples 92MBps and 36MBps over USB 3.0. Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 has read and write speeds of 31MBps and 9MBps on USB 2.0, respectively, and spikes to 38MBps and 12MBps over USB 3.0 in the test.

Moving large files wirelessly to and from a PC isn’t particularly fast either — a 2GB file took 2 minutes and 28 seconds to transfer in our drag-and-drop test when plugged directly into a PC, taking 5:44 to do the same thing wirelessly. Wireless file transfer is generally much more useful for your phone, where physically plugging it in isn’t an option. It can still be useful on a PC, but accessing the special URL and using the browser is not ideal, and the transfer speed is slow. It’s still a good idea to plug the drive into your computer to transfer the PC unless you specifically need remote access.

While the transfer speed itself is not very fast, the actual process of moving files using this app is quite easy. The app has a clean layout for navigating through folders, just like when plugged into a PC. When I move a file to or from a wireless device, it starts transferring immediately, and the app allows me to continue performing other tasks on my phone in the meantime. You can also move multiple files at once. I found the range to be pretty well maintained as I moved between rooms, and the transition continued uninterrupted.

The hardest aspect is getting your phone to connect to the drive’s wireless network, which usually works in one attempt, but sometimes it will fail and revert to your regular Wi-Fi network, make you try again. Your experience will vary slightly depending on your device, but I tested it on three different smartphones, and the results were largely consistent. Aside from some temporary errors, devices connect to the drive within seconds of choosing their network.

Conclusion

The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick does what it’s supposed to: provide the ability to remotely access files from your computer or phone without much hassle. Easy transfers to and from your phone are the biggest reason to use the drive. It can still be useful on a PC, but it’s a less streamlined process, and you’re better off plugging it in, an option not available for your phone.

Using the mobile app is easy, and you can stream media from the drive without first transferring files to your mobile device. The range is impressive, and the battery lasts long enough for everyday use or at home. File transfer speeds aren’t great, but the SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick is reliable and well-built, and its price-per-gigabyte is a good value.

Advantages

Low price.

Attractive design.

Connecting to the phone is very simple.

The mobile application is very easy to use.

Reliable, consistent wireless connection in our tests.

Disadvantage

Connecting wirelessly to a computer is still less convenient than plugging it in.

USB 2.0 only.

Average transfer speed in the test.